Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landwirtschaftmuseum

Otherwise known as the Schleswig-Holstein (A Northern State of Germany) Agricultural Museum. This museum is housed in Meldorf, a town of about 8,000 people. As far as I can tell, Meldorf has four attractions, the church (Dom), the Agricultural Museum, and two more museums. One is a crafts museum and is lame enough to close at 1pm on Fridays. The other is some sort of museum that I didn’t understand. Like maybe a town museum. I didn’t go to those two. Being my father’s daughter, however, I went to the Agricultural Museum. I felt it was what I should do. Like when my family went to the National Grasslands Museum in Wall, SD, instead of Wall Drug. (I was 14 and heavily influenced by the billboards we’d been seeing for almost 2000 miles. I wanted to go to Wall Drug. The Stupid Grass Museum had no such billboards. Also it was a zillion degrees out. Aka 120. Without the heat index. I volunteered to stay with the dog instead of going to the stupid museum. Which was dumb. Said museum was air conditioned… Anyways, this is a form of an apology to my father.)

One thing I should state about the Agricultural Museum is that it has nothing in English. So it was rather quick to walk through because I don’t know enough German to read the explanatory boards or anything. Especially once my camera battery died and I couldn’t take pictures.

I walked into the museum and was immediately thrilled. Bunches of old farm equipment. That was really all I could see. Sweet.

I have no clue what this is. It looks kindof like a mini-firetruck. Points for cuteness, for sure.

An example of the displays. (With my reflection and the ceiling lights…) The text looked like it had been printed on a typewriter or computer circa 1985 and obviously the person setting up the display didn’t know about lining things up with a ruler. But there is something about Deering USA. So I assume they are saying awesome things about John Deere Flügelmähers. Whatever they are.

I believe that the goal of this display was to show how many fewer people the newer plowing technology required. New equipment requires fewer people! YAY! I have no clue why there are red people and green people. I can only assume that the red people are not, in fact, dead, because there is one on the most modern technology. But if he were dead, he couldn’t run the plow. So maybe the red people run the plow and the green people are helpers? We shall never know.

Long random thing. I have no clue what it is. I took a picture of it so that someone (dad?) could identify it for me. I can only imagine the trouble I would get in attempting to drive this thing. I would undoubtedly get into accidents. Heck, I can’t even walk around my house without getting bruises all over my body. I could do some serious harm with this thing.

I have decided, with my infinite agricultural wisdom, that this is what one calls a thrasher. Because it looks like something someone would call a thrasher. It looks like it would thrash. Feel free to correct me.

Another long thing. This one confuses me. There is a seat in it, but it looks like it is meant to be pulled. However, I have decided, due the the barrel, that this was meant to do some sort of irrigation. OH. It is going to be pulled by the horses. But the driver must control the flow of water, so the driver sits on the seat. Maybe there is another dude on the horse. I hope so.

Fact: The Germans don’t still farm with horses. They have big machines. called Junior.

This is a vat for sauerkraut. Thankfully my camera turned on just long enough for me to take it. It is maybe 10 feet tall, 10 feet in diameter. LOTS O’SAUERKRAUT.

Then my camera truly died. So you’ll have to put up with my words now.

Upstairs there was hay! And sauerkraut machines and bread making machines and ovens. Then a photo exhibit of horses. Apparently this area is famous for their horses. I actually watched a video from Lexington, KY of all places from the 2010 World Equestrian Games from the event where horses jump over things in a ring (but not in a circle, if that makes sense…they are not in a field. That is the main thing.) Sadly, none of Isaac’s jumps were in this event, but apparently a Schleswig-Holstein horse placed first! So that was interesting. There were also dioramas of how Meldorf has changed in the past 200 years. Hint: There are still grazing cows in town, according to the diorama (I saw none).

When you leave this part of the museum, you go past a rose garden, to the old barn. You can wander around, upstairs, around the old stalls (with a fake horse that in the dark looks freakishly real), and in the house part. Fact: Apparently people used to sleep in closets. Or the equivalent of closets. Basically you pull back a curtain that is flush with the wall and there is a little bed with space for a four foot tall person. I would’ve been in trouble.

So that is the museum for you. You really should go to Meldorf so that you can experience it for yourself. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to (or didn’t know if I was allowed) to climb on the old tractors. That would have been Fantastic!